The Al Shabab Post
Match14 Oct 2026
Al Shabab through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Al Shaab, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Al Shabab
Maximiliano Velazco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Al Shabab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kasra Taheri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
One of their own: Hassan Al Suwaidi
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match17 Oct 2026
Al Shabab come up short against Al Dhafra
Al Dhafra left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Mohamed Rashid was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Al Shabab are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Fahad Hussain answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Rashid Yaqoob beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
In brief
- The dugout Maximiliano Velazco knocks on the manager’s door
- Squad Saeed Juma wants out of the spotlight
- The dugout No hiding place for Mohamed Yaqoob